Tehran-London ties to remain at chargé d’affaires level: Iran diplomat
A senior Iranian official says Tehran and London will keep the relationship at the level of chargé d’affaires, as UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is scheduled to visit Iran on Sunday to reopen the UK embassy in the Iranian capital.
“Following the opening of the British embassy in Tehran, the relations between the two countries will remain at the level of chargé d’affaires,” said Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, on Saturday.
He said Tehran and London will change the level of their relations from non-resident chargés d’affaires to residing ones.
The Iranian official added that Iran's embassy in London will also reopen at the same time.
After the reopening of the embassies, the two missions will issue diplomatic and service visas, Takht-e-Ravanchi said, adding that it will take months before ordinary or tourist visas will be issued.
On August 20, an informed source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the reopening of the UK embassy in Tehran will take place during a visit by the UK foreign secretary to Tehran on Sunday, August 23.
The reopening of the Iranian and British embassies comes nearly four years after the two countries severed diplomatic ties.
London shut down its embassy in Tehran in November 2011 and withdrew its diplomatic staff after hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the British embassy in Tehran against the expansion of UK sanctions on Iran, pulling down the UK flag and demanding the expulsion of the British ambassador.
Nearly two years after their diplomatic ties were severed, Iran and Britain agreed in October 2013 to appoint non-resident chargés d’affaires as a first step toward reopening embassies.
Hammond's visit will be the first such trip by a UK foreign secretary to the Iranian capital in nearly 12 years.
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